Today at the NIARC corn was side-dressed with nitrogen by Dave Lindgren and Darin Joos from variety testing. Also on hand were Nick Tinsley and the entomology crew that is making their northern Illinois swing cutting borders in their studies. Despite all the advances in plot work, borders are still put in the old fashioned way, lots of help and a sturdy hoe!...

Lisa Gonzini, research specialist with the University of Illinois department of Crop Sciences had an early start to her day in an attempt to travel from campus to the NIARC to make post herbicide applications before the wind speed picked up. Even though the weather prediction was a calm day until mid to late afternoon we clocked winds of near 13 mph by 9:30 am. Lisa and the rest of us will be fini...

For most farmers planting date is dependent on spring weather. In effort to quantify the change in corn yield we have a long term study at the NIARC varying planting dates. This year our planting dates were
March 29 th
April 19 th
May 9 th
May 29 th
This study has two hybrids, a full season and a shor...

Stephanie Porter sends a weekly summary of diseases and plant injuries diagnosed from samples submitted to the University of Illinois plant clinic. Visit the plant clinic site to learn all that they have to offer
http://web.extension.illinois.edu/plantclinic/
In this week's report several corn seedling samples had been...

It is not normal for my drive home to be this exciting. Wind gusts reaching 45 mph on Thursday evening relentlessly moved Northern Illinois precious topsoil. Momentary visibility was greatly reduced, I stopped to take this picture just west of Newark. Hopefully the moisture we are supposed to get over the weekend and future crop growth that will provide more ground cover that will make this an iso...

Hang on to your hat, your clipboard, or anything you are trying to carry today. If you don't; it will most certainly end up in your neighbor's field. Windy conditions are preventing us from any applications at the NIARC today; farm foreman Dave Lindgren is planting our remaining fill areas with soybean. For farmers who still have soybean to plant the questions we are hearing include...

Like most farmers, NIARC farm foreman Dave Lindgren and I had collective sighs of relief as we finished planting our final plot last night. We cannot put the planter away just yet because we have several date of planting studies that stretch into the last week May and the first week of June. We will also be planting late corn and pumpkins to serve as a trap crop for Corn rootworm beetles. We have...

At the NIARC we planted our last corn trial and will finish all planting in a few days. Today the plant diseases group was at Shabbona planting their study; also pre-emergent herbicides were evaluated at the V2 stage in our corn. Our trials are almost grass and Lambsquarter free. Our researchers have even suggested bringing more seeds of those weeds to plant for future years. No such problem wi...

Good weather, good progress! The final three soybean studies were staked out today and I picked up our starter fertilizer for our final corn study to be planted. The end of planting is within sight! Our weeds researchers will be back tomorrow at the NIARC to apply herbicides to our V2 corn. Be cognizant of the growth stage of the corn and the weeds you are trying to control with your post herbicid...

Last evenings best performance may have been the Lightening "light" show courtesy of Mother Nature. The quick moving storm did not yield enough rain to keep us out of the field. Today at the NIARC soybean pre-emergence herbicides were applied in one study, 0-12 inch and 12-24 inch soil samples were collected prior to fertilizer applications in another study. Dr. Brian Diers soybean germplasm ev...

With almost 90% of the corn planted in Illinois we are playing catch up at the NIARC. Replicated studies planted with a four row planter and different treatments is a slower process when compared to planting with a 12 row (or larger)planter across large fields! Activities at the NIARC yesterday included the Variety testing team who planted their soybean variety trial; the entomology researchers...

Stripe rust of wheat has been a topic for several weeks in the Illinois Bulletin. The disease was initially reported in southeastern Missouri and Arkansas. It then progressed into southern and central Illinois and this week was identified by Norman Smith on susceptible germplasm in the wheat variety testing trials at the NIARC. Stripe rust symptoms first occur as chlorotic linear streaks on the...

This is when it gets hard, the calendar tells us the corn should be in the ground and we should be planting soybean IF field conditions allow us to do so. While not at the panic level yet, this is often a time of heightened blood pressure for farmers (or researchers) who still have acres and plots to plant. We are begrudgingly holding off planting for another day at the NIARC...

Rainfall in northern Illinois for the preceding four days has ranged from less than ¼ inch to 5+ inches. While standing water is not currently an issue at the NIARC it is for others in our area. Flooded and saturated soils cause anoxic conditions (limited oxygen) for the plants and importantly, the root systems.
Dr. Bob Nielsen at Purdue authored an article on the "Effects of Flooding o...

If you are of a certain age you may remember the opening lyrics to the Mama and Papas 1966 song. While some moisture was appreciated we are anxious to continue with planting activities. While the NIARC missed many of the weekend rains that traveled across northern Illinois we received 1+ inches Sunday night. A snapshot at the NIARC has our second planting from our corn date of planting (April 19th...

Three consecutive days where we have reached 80 degrees have been beneficial to the planted corn at the NIARC. This is especially true on behalf of our earliest planted corn (March 29). This corn emerged on April 16th and over the next 13 days was exposed to seven freezing or near freezing events resulting in some tissue damage on the leaves. Corn normally makes the transition to its nodal root s...

Based on catches of Black cutworm adults across Illinois initial projections for BCW cutting dates have been posted by Kelly Estes, State Survey Coordinator at the University of Illinois. Corn fields most likely to exhibit damage are those that were overgrown with grasses or winter annual weeds during adult egg laying. Weeds that are attractive to egg-laying moths include chickweed, shepherd's pur...